The present disclosure relates to a package, preferably a film package, for gathering a plurality of primary containers, such as bottles, that comprises an integrated handle.
In the field of gathering packages, the prior art shows packages to group a plurality of primary containers such as for example water bottles, or metal cans. These known packages are typically made out of a shrinkable film that is rolled around the set of bottles and heat-treated so as to shrink around the bottles to tightly hold them together. Once gathered, the primary packages, for example the bottles, form a pack.
In the following description, it will be considered for the sake of clarity that the gathering package is made out of a shrinkable film, and the primary packages are plastic bottles. However, this limitation should not be considered as restricting the scope of the invention. Other types of materials than shrinkable plastic film may also be used for the gathering package, and other types of primary packages than plastic bottles may be gathered.
The interest of such film gathering packages has been known for long, and is a consumer must to facilitate handling and transportation of a set of primary containers.
Some of the known film gathering packages comprise a handle that is glued onto the outer surface of the film by means of adhesive tape for example.
These known film gathering packages show good reliability for consumers because they provide good gathering of the primary containers—for example bottles of mineral water—and the handle facilitates handling.
However, when a consumer is shopping and wishes to transport the pack of bottles into a shopping trolley, it is necessary to place the pack into the trolley. However, such a pack is usually quite bulky and a lot of space into the trolley is lost for filling with other products.
Therefore, a need exists for a package for gathering a plurality of primary packages, that is easy to handle and that can be arranged in a shopping trolley in such a way that a maximum of space remains available into said trolley.